Meet 76-Year-Old Pope Francis, the First Pontiff Elected from South America

Nine days after the search for the World's Next Top Catholic began, the 115 cardinal-electors gathered in Vatican City have selected a new pope. The election was indicated by white smoke billowing from the Sistine Chapel, bells ringing from St. Peter's, and an old-fashioned Roman Catholic party that erupted among those who had camped outside to await the decision. The scene, as reported by The New York Times:

“Habemus papam!” members of the crowd shouted in Latin, waving umbrellas and flags. “We have a pope!” Others cried “Viva il Papa!” as all eyes trained on the balcony. “It was like waiting for the birth of a baby, only better,” said a Roman man. A child sitting atop his father’s shoulders waved a crucifix.

Within an hour of the ominous white-smoke sign, Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran appeared on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica and announced that 76-year-old Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, would succeed Benedict. Bergoglio, who will go by Francis, is the first pontiff from South America to have been elected leader of the Catholic Church and, according to theTimes, “is also the first non-European leader of the church in more than 1,000 years.” (Sign-of-peace fist bump, non-European Catholics!) Having already accepted the title within the Sistine Chapel, the newly ordained pope joined Tauran on the balcony in white to offer his first address and blessing. “I would like to thank you for your embrace,” Francis said before thanking his peers, who, he noted, “have chosen one from far away, but here I am.”